This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
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...we have a subculture which is literally a fifth column of insanity, that is bred from birth through home school, Christian school, evangelical college, whatever, to reject facts, as a matter of faith.

I saw this posted over on Daily Kos with the request that this be forwarded and re-posted.

I, ________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:

I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.

I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.

I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.

I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:

Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)

Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)

Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)

Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking

Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies

Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies

If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care

I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:

Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History

The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments

The government-operated Statue of Liberty

The Grand Canyon

The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials

The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery

All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC

I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.

I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.

I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.

I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.

Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.

Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.

"From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point," he said, adding that "it's still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time, as many people will still find that their job security and their employment status is not what they wish it was."

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

America is a nation at war, overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at home.

According to the newly released Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report for 2008 every 18 seconds someone is arrested and charged with violating drug laws.

Another striking figure in the report: of the 1,702,537 drug arrests in 2008, 82.3 percent were for simple possession of a contraband substance. Nearly half, 44 percent, were for possession of marijuana.

According to San Francisco Weekly's calculations, 2008 saw one marijuana arrest every 37 seconds.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said 2008 had the second-highest number of marijuana arrests the U.S. has ever seen. The group said that 2007 currently holds the record.

How much money could be saved by not punishing victimless crimes? I'm sure the numbers have been run. So why are we wasting so much money and effort? Even Mexico has figured out that it's not worth it.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

A lot of TV folks and politicians are declaring the banking / economic collapse over, but I don't buy it. I think the worst is yet to come. But that's just me and the economists that I read. Don't forget, we still have 9.7% unemployment ( and the TRUE rate, if you include those who are no longer receiving unemployment benefits and have quit looking for work, is nearly 17%) and it's climbing.

MeteorBlades posted this on Daily Kos yesterday...

Yesterday, with the release of the Census Bureau's update for 2008, there was another record established: The real median income fell by $1,860 from 2007 to 2008. That's a decline of 3.6%, which makes it the worse one-year decline since 1967, when records were first kept on such matters.-

It does seem that there are many different Gods - just within the Christian religion. Do you worship the God of love and peace? Or do you worship the God who sends people to Hell just for the sport of it?

Friday, September 11, 2009

I quit shopping at Wal*Mart many years ago, after I became aware of how badly they treated many of their employees. I haven't bought anything at Wally World for probably 10 years now. What follows is a story posted over at Boing Boing - and by clicking on the link you can get the source and some follow up.

Around the time that the young Sam Walton opened his first stores, John Kennedy redeemed a presidential campaign promise by persuading Congress to extend the minimum wage to retail workers, who had until then not been covered by the law. Congress granted an exclusion, however, to small businesses with annual sales beneath $1 million -- a figure that in 1965 it lowered to $250,000.

Walton was furious. The mechanization of agriculture had finally reached the backwaters of the Ozark Plateau, where he was opening one store after another. The men and women who had formerly worked on small farms suddenly found themselves redundant, and he could scoop them up for a song, as little as 50 cents an hour. Now the goddamn federal government was telling him he had to pay his workers the $1.15 hourly minimum. Walton's response was to divide up his stores into individual companies whose revenues did not exceed the $250,000 threshold. Eventually, though, a federal court ruled that this was simply a scheme to avoid paying the minimum wage, and he was ordered to pay his workers the accumulated sums he owed them, plus a double-time penalty thrown in for good measure.

Wal-Mart cut the checks, but Walton also summoned the employees at a major cluster of his stores to a meeting. "I'll fire anyone who cashes the check," he told them.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

I grew very tired during last year's campaign season of defenders of George W. Bush insisting that we all give the outgoing adminsitration "credit for keeping us safe from terrorist attacks in the U.S. for more than seven years."

The insistence that Bush kept us safe depends on giving him a mulligan for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States on the morning of Sept. 11 in his first year in office.

If we say yes, though, are we prepared, tomorrow at 7:46 a.m. Chicago time, if the moment passes without a domestic attack, to say that President Obama kept us safer longer than George W. Bush?

From Boing Boing where you can find a video, links and some additional information.

Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Republican who screamed out "You lie!" last night during Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress, has apologized, and Obama has accepted. Maybe they should have a beer?

Poor Joe Wilson was not ready for the spotlight. In the 18 hours since he attempted to turn a ceremonial speech to Congress into a WWF rally, he has:

* Been revealed as a deadbeat whose debts could very well exceed his assets and a liar (that word!) who failed to report assets on his last congressional disclosure.

* Been revealed as a secessionist dead-ender who fought to the last to keep the Confederate Flag flying over the South Carolina statehouse.

* And turned in, as Talking Points Memo notes, one of the shakiest post-apology news conferences in the history of politics, throwing off flopsweat of Nixonian proportions.

The Republicans should love this - they do so respect the sanctity of marriage that you just know this has to be right up their alley.

Rob Cockerham interviewed John Marcotte, a Sacramento man who filed a petition with the California Secretary of State to get a voter's initiative onto the 2010 ballot in California that would make it ban divorce.

RC: Are you going to hit the streets collecting signatures for the initiative?

John: We're going to set up a table in front of Wal*Mart and ask people to sign a petition to protect traditional marriage. We're going to interview them about why they thing traditional marriage is important, and then we'll tell them that we are trying to ban divorce. People who supported Prop 8 weren't trying to take rights away from gays, they just wanted to protect traditional marriage. That's why I'm confident that they will support this initiative, even though this time it will be their rights that are diminished. To not support it would be hypocritical. We're also going to collect signatures in front of "Faces," the largest gay nightclub in Sacramento.

This post came from Boing Boing where you can find an image and links to the full interview.-

He's president, he's black — get over it

As such, he is due the respect that the highest office of the land commands.

................

Obama has been a magnet for these unfounded fears, these innuendos, these lies because he is black.

He has not done anything that would justify the outrage we are seeing in factions across this nation. Nothing. He hasn't had time. He has been in office less than eight months.

What this is about is that there are too many people who are afraid of what a black man might do because they have no idea what a black man is all about. The fear is unfounded and insane, fueled by our inability or lack of desire to interact with folks who are different.

There's a lot more to this editorial, and it's good - and it's published in a newspaper in Kentucky. Click HERE to read more.

”It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put life on it.. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a place to test Balance.”

“Balance?” inquired Michael, “I’m still confused.”

God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. “For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I’ve placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things.”

God continued pointing to different countries. “This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice.”

The Archangel , impressed by God’s work, then pointed to a land area and said, “What’s that one?”

“That’s Washington State , the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains. The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of aircraft and software.”

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, “But what about balance, God? You said there would be balance.”

God smiled, “There’s another Washington. Wait till you see the idiots I put there.”

The most vocal portion of the Republican party has moved from conservatism to sedition. It will be interesting to see if their is a significant backlash against this insanity in the next couple of election cycles.

When you think about arguing politics with someone from the religious right, just remember this is the type of person you are trying to reason with. And if you watch this all the way to the end (it's short), I think the best part may be that everyone else ignores the guy - just as those on the religious right want to ignore anyone who needs health care.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

This was posted over at Daily Kos - click on the link HERE to read the rest...

Notice a propensity of newly minted Libertarians showing up lately? Perhaps it's just coincidence their ranks swelled in inverse proportion to George Bush's approval rating, ditto that so many are mouthing traditional conservative talking points. But what about the everyday gun toting townhall screamers and taxcutters and deficit hawks we see on cable news: are they really libertarian as so many claim, or just conservatives in glibertarian clothes? Here's a few warning signs.

If you think Ron Paul isn't conservative enough and Fox News is fair and balanced, you might not be a Libertarian.

If you believe you have an inalienable right to attend Presidential townhalls brandishing a loaded assault rifle, but that arresting participants inside for wearing a pink shirt is an important public safety precaution, there's a chance you're dangerously unbalanced, but no chance you're a Libertarian.

If you think the government should stay the hell out of Medicare, well, you have way, way bigger problems than figuring out if you're really a Libertarian.

Every once in a while, General JC Christian hits one out of the ballpark. over on his blog, Jesus General. You may not like this post as much as I do - I loves me some crude humor and this is CRUDE. The Pastor addressed here is the bloke who is praying for the death of Barack Obama. There's also a video of the Pastor at the General's site if you're interested in more info on this topic.

I see you're catching hell because that guy who brought an AR-15 to that Obama event in Phoenix is a member of your church. I don't know why folks are so upset. So he listened to your smite Obama sermon and then took an assault rifle to an Obama speech. Big deal.

But I suspect it isn't helping your resisting arrest case. God help you if the verdict is guilty. They're certain to show the judge the video of that sermon as part of your sentencing report. Threatening the life of the President of the United States is not the kind of thing that will convince a judge to be lenient.

You need to mitigate it. You can do so by preaching a sermon condemning Obama for violating God's commandment that a man must stand when he pees. Certainly, that'd convince the judge that you had a good reason to threaten the President. Nobody likes a sitzpinkler.

You know, I bet that's why Obama refuses to allow us Birther-Americans to see his little president. He's afraid we'll notice the watermark where it dangles into the toilet. I get that sometimes with my man-grenades when I'm doing the ol' number two. You know what I mean. You sit down there and the bottom of your ol' glory sack breaks the surface of the water--sends a cold shiver right up the spine. Obama probably has the same problem with his man-thingy--you know what they say about Kenyans.

Man, I so want to see that watermark. I bet it's 2000 Flushes® blue, just like my man-marbles.

Anyway, the sermon shouldn't take a lot of prep. You just need to tweak your old "As a Man Pisseth" sermon. Change the part about the Germans. Make it Kenyans and start yelling about how God is angry because Obama refuses to pisseth against the wall.